Van Gogh in May

The month of May was typically a productive month for Van Gogh with improvements in the weather and the flowers and trees in full bloom. In a letter to his brother Theo from May of 1888, Van Gogh wrote about the first painting shown below stating:

“A meadow full of very yellow buttercups, a ditch with iris plants with green leaves and purple flowers, the town in the background, a few gray willows – a strip of blue sky. If they don’t mow the meadow I’d like to do this study again, for the subject was very beautiful, and I had some trouble finding the composition.”

While Van Gogh’s paintings of Irises are certainly some of his more famous May paintings, it is sometimes nice to look back on his other works and uncover some of the lesser known gems. To close out this month, here are a few selections of Van Gogh paintings that he did in May.